1500w 48v 20ah standing kick scooter unboxing with pics

[Philosopher]

I just bought a Brushless motor Lithium (LiFePO4) 1500w 48v 20ah standing kick scooter. It arrived in the mail and I took some pics as I un-boxed it.
I also have some questions and comments about its performance and equipment that I will discuss in the next post.
Photo captions are Above the pics.

box arrives 1


box arrives 2


opening box


opening box


emptying box


looks like a scooter.


Front Wheel these are knobbier than other scooter tires I have seen. The rims are 7" in diameter and the tires are 11.5" in diameter (just barely).


Rear wheel.


Metal Battery Box.


Scooter's batter area - Under the deck


The controller is loose in the housing.


Ah... there is double sided tape that is supposed to hold it in place.....


Factory markings. Note, there are no ports in the housing for any sort of data plug.


Inside the controller 1


Inside the contrller 2


Inside the controller 3
View attachment 14

Inside the controller 4


Inside the controller 5


Inside the controller 6


Inside the metal battery box. Note all the empty space in there.
View attachment 10

Battery measurements. I am concerned that these are the EXACT SAME physical measurements of my other scooter's smaller 48v 12ah battery. This is supposed to be 1500w 28v 20ah.


Totally useless instructions that are also in French. but they would be utterly useless in any any language. all fluff. no tech specs, wiring diagrams or actual usable data. Half of the pics are of a totally different model. Meh.
View attachment 8

Included Tool Kit. Not to fancy, but definitely better than nothing. Has a nice, super cheap little carry bag too.


Motor's measurements: 4 7/8" long and about 4 3/16" in diameter. It does not fit very snugly in the frame.


The motor stampings. These are the ONLY markings on the motor. It starts "48v 1500w" not sure what the other numbers mean.


The wires coming from the motor, as seen below the deck, near the controller.


The rear tail light on. It and the headlight can be turned off.


The rear tail light with brakes activated and "brake light" illuminated. Nice feature.


Handle bar controls with 3 LED battery indicator lights and a "turbo button" that gives the scooter about 2/3 to 1/2 power for increased economy.



To be continued.
-Phil

 

[Philosopher]

This is a pic of my new Black 1500w scooter next to the older Blue 1000w one.
I have put about 10 miles on the new scooter since receiving it. If I were to describe its performance in one word it would be, "Underwhelming."

I purchased this scooter to upgrade from my Blue 3 year old 1000w 48v 12ah Lithuim scooter with a brushed motor. It is a great scooter, but I have been rough on it, and its starting to wear out. But it really is a great little scooter.
The new one is supposed to be a 1500w 48v 20ah scooter with a brushless motor.

The older 1000w scooter and the new 1500w have the same gearing, but the old 1000w one accelerates faster. The old one easily does wheelies, but the new 1500w one cannot. They both have about the same top speed, but the new one is a bit faster, but only a bit: The new 1500w scooter will consistently go about 26mph on flat ground, occasionally creeping up to 31 if there is a slight down hill slope. The old one would top out around 26mph, but consistently go that speed on flat ground. I like the new scooter's brushless regenerative braking.

Basically, when I ordered the new scooter I thought I was getting about $400 more battery + a more powerful and efficient brushless motor. I honestly expected quite a bit more from the new scooter. In the very least I really thought it would accelerate faster/harder than the new one.

I also am very concerned that the battery appears to be the exact same one as came with my older 1000w 48v 12ah scooter. They both are LiFePO4 lithium batteries, and their physical dimensions are the EXACT SAME.
Which brings to light some of my own short comings. I am not sure how to test the battery and motor to see if they are what the seller claimed. These are things I am going to need to learn, and now is the time.

I also am not very impressed with a few other things with the new one. Most of the bolts are already showing surface rust, the chain came kinked and will have to be replaced even though it is new, and there are several substantial scuffs on it where it apparently was damaged while shipped or while in storage. Granted I intend to add a few of my own scuffs, so this is not too much of a big deal. But combined with the underwhelming performance and likely wrong battery, etc, I am not too happy with it.

-Phil

 

[LockH]

Nice (front) brake! Only have experiences w/caliper (and assuming disk brake "better"). Hopefully back same, as given choice, when braking would prefer front wheel "trailing"/in line w/back.

 

[Philosopher]

The front and rear disc brakes are epic. I can easily lock either one up. This combined with the regenerative braking (which comes on quite strongly), I am very pleased with the stopping power. It is more or less the exact same as my old one, minus the regen braking.

 

[torqueboards]

Nice looks nice. How much and where did you get it? I imagine it's not that portable. Looks great though.

 

[Philosopher]

I got this one from eBay. It was about $1500 (including shipping)
http://www.ebay.com/itm/171732317273?

 

[LockH]

OH! Regenerative braking too?!!! (I feel ebiker jealousy/lust coming on.)

 

[torqueboards]

I think this one here is the original - http://www.superscootersales.com/product/super-lithium-1500-brushless-electric-scooter/

I wouldn't think quality would differ much but who knows.

 

[Philosopher]

I think this one here is the original - http://www.superscootersales.com/product/super-lithium-1500-brushless-electric-scooter/

I wouldn't think quality would differ much but who knows.

Indeed they are very similar. The difference is that the one I got is a generation AHEAD of the one sold by SuperScooterSales. Theirs does not included the brake light, nor the "trubo" button to help regulate lower power consumption.

 

[ohzee]

Unfortunately I expected you would be dissapointed with the scooter as most of us has felt that same thing when first getting into this hobby.

That is what made me want to learn all I could so I could get the results I wanted.

I am impressed with the 12 fet controller.

Id start by figuring out what type of cells that battery is made from. Pouch, 18650's etc. Look for markings on them then count how many.
From there we can see what that battery can really put out. If it's powerful enough you could try modifying the conroller. There are ways
you can increase the amps by modyfing the shunt like this. http://endless-sphere.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=31643

Those nobby tires are different. Wonder if that will reduce your range. Also why wasted space in the battery that is strange.
Maybe so it does not move around.

 

[Philosopher]

Ohzee,
My big concern here is that my new "20ah" battery is the exact same size as the old 12ah battery.

I need to sit down and do some testing.

 

[ohzee]

Ohzee,
My big concern here is that my new "20ah" battery is the exact same size as the old 12ah battery.

I need to sit down and do some testing.

Yea I caught that man. You need a watt meter or something similar.

You hook that in line to the power with something putting a load to use power like light bulbs, electric heater etc.

Or if you can figure out what exactly makes up the battery. Type of cells how many in parallel/series you can also then gauge capacity.

 

[LockH]

Unfortunately I expected you would be disappointed..."

ACK! I was *thrilled* w/ my first "ebike" as stand up kick scooter (with extra "kick" provided with paltry 2x 12V 10Ah lead-acid batts in series.) This kicker is "light years" ahead. But yah, missing that V3 Cycle Analyst still. Hehe... Prob. would prefer 12" wheels, but "fatty" tires more "streetcar rails friendly" I imagine.

 

[made_in_the_alps_legacy]

Ohzee,
My big concern here is that my new "20ah" battery is the exact same size as the old 12ah battery.

I need to sit down and do some testing.

Yea I caught that man. You need a watt meter or something similar.

...

Yes, get a watt meter and ride with it WOT.

I follow up your battery concern since it reminds me my e-scooter, which was actually limited by its battery
It had a 36V 12Ah battery, so assuming 2C discharge for LiIon battery, gave 36V x 12 x 2 = 864W as primary electrical power. (Rating was 800W so : fine)

In your case :
48V x 20 Ah x 2 gives more than the rated 1500W (1920We) : you should feel the difference compared to your older scooter (48V x 12Ah x 2 = 1152We)
...unless the new scooter is 12Ah : you would have the same performance, which seems to actually be the case...

maybe pointing out the sizes issue (SAME as 12Ah) and performance issues (SAME as 12Ah) to the seller is enought to claim your insatisfaction?

Does the "turbo button" unleash the 1500W ? (top speed in "turbo mode" ?)

 

[mateusleo]

You can buy cheap wattmeters on eBay to measure battery capacity, they cost about 10 dollars

 

[pixelzpusher]

If your new scooter isn't running much faster, it could be a couple of things. Your new batteries aren't giving your motor enough juice to get to top speed. The new brushless motor needs more amps on the same 48 volts. That means your batteries need to provide more juice. It doesn't appear they are. Based on the math, the motor should be consuming 31 amps at full throttle under load. A watt meter should be able to tell you this. Another thing could be your speed controller. It may not be programmed properly to work with your brushless motor. Brushless motors must be timed correctly with the speed controller it is working with.

If all is working properly and your batteries are giving the juice your motor needs, your new brushless motor should smoke the older brushed motor. There really is no comparison. I've done this test on my brushless motors and a battery that provides the amps will give your motor more power. The 1500w scooter should easily do over 30mph. As for the batteries being the same size, the newer battery technology has made them more compact. This could be the reason for the size similarity.

 

[dhmillertime]

I was gonna call them and confirm,but I was looking at the same scooter and there were two different specs for the battery in the description. One said 20ah and the other said 12ah. There's an sla version and that is 12ah. I assumed the lithium would be the same.

 

[dhmillertime]

Regardless, shouldn't the jump from 36v to 48v increase acceleration? I've been trying to decide between your 48v scooter and a 36v 1200 watt scooter. The 36v has a 40a controller while yours has a 30a. Probably end up overvolting the 36v one

 

[dhmillertime]

Regardless, shouldn't the jump from 36v to 48v increase acceleration? I've been trying to decide between your 48v scooter and a 36v 1200 watt scooter. The 36v has a 40a controller while yours has a 30a. Probably end up overvolting the 36v one

 

[Philosopher]

I would find a different person to buy from.
My motor fired, the battery was wrong, the customer support was horrible to work with, and all in all, this scooter did not meet my expectations. Not even almost.
...Doubly so compared to my old 36v 12ah lithium "Superscooter" that I was hoping to replace....

If I was going to buy one, I'd bite the bullet and spend the extra few hundred dollars and buy the $1600 one from SuperScooters....

 

[dhmillertime]

Scooter wholesale has that 1200watt motor and 40a controller. $100 apiece I believe. I was considering putting those in my 800 watt but thought a 48v setup would be better. Guess not. Anyways these mountain board guys are doing cool things with rc motors. Hill climbing and off road is most impotant. Used to be after speed but my front shock fell out when I hit a root and I broke my collar bone. Maybe try hyperpowersports, they have new 1500 watts and even a 1600w. A lot cheaper